


An Alternate Journey

by Warlordess



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Best Friends, Eventual Romance, F/M, Friendship/Love, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, Pokeshipping Week 2018, Role Reversal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-09-29 15:14:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17205779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warlordess/pseuds/Warlordess
Summary: Eleven year old novice trainer Misty starts her Pokemon adventure, best friends Gary and Ash by her side. But will she withstand every test her travels throw at her and become the greatest master trainer of all time? Fic co-crafted with famous fan-artist, Miyatoriaka! AU/Pokeshipping!





	1. Prologue : Eevee

**Authors** \- Warlordess and Miyatoriaka

 **Notes** \- So here it is, the major motion-fanfic of the century! For those who don't know, famed Pokeshipping artist Miyatoriaka drew a twelve or thirteen page comic for Pokeshipping Week 2018 based on the "role reversal" theme. After seeing a few pages, and then obsessively rereading  _all_ the pages over and over, I felt inspired to write for the first time in months, to really sit down and dedicate hours to a specific project. When I mentioned casually that I was interested in writing a fanfic version of her comic, she was immediately supportive! Since then, we've discussed the project over a few conversations and figured a lot of little details and kinks out and I was able to draft a few chapters while working which I finally had time to start typing up…

Anyway, here's hoping you all enjoy!

OoO

 **Title** \- "An Alternate Journey"

 **Summary** \- Eleven year old novice trainer Misty starts her Pokemon adventure, best friends Gary and Ash by her side. But will she withstand every test her travels throw at her and become the greatest master trainer of all time? Fic co-crafted with famous fan-artist, Miyatoriaka!

 **Ages** \- Misty and Leaf are eleven years old, Ash and Gary are thirteen, and the adults are adult-aged so who cares about 'em? Lol.

 **Prologue**  - Eevee

OoOoO

The bristles of her hairbrush carefully loosened the tangle in her long red tresses before straightening its way through the rest of her hair. She removed the scrunchie from between her lips and stretched it, twisting it to and fro until it had tightly wound up the ponytail at the back of her scalp. Finally, the last addition to her attire was the knock-off unofficial League cap she'd bought herself in preparation of this day…

The day she'd finally become a true League-sanctioned trainer.

Misty Waterflower took a step backwards and gazed at her reflection in the mirror in full, releasing a breath she'd previously been unaware she was holding. Everything was  _perfect_.

It was at this blissful moment in time that her eyes veered to the reflection of the clock hanging from the bedroom wall behind her and she felt her heart flip once more into her throat.

"That  _can't_ be the time! I'm late!" the redhead shrieked, throwing her backpack over her shoulders and taking off out the door. "Bye Daisy, Lily, Violet! Sorry, no time for breakfast! Gotta go pick up Eevee from the lab! You guys don't have to worry about seeing me off!" she shouted in what felt like one breath as she clambored down the stairs two at a time and stumbled out the front door.

It was a ten minute walk to the lab but she could cut the commute in half if she ran and refrained from getting distracted by any of the common wild Pokemon she saw on the way. After living in Pallet Town a whole two years, such a feat would ordinarily be easy but today of all days…

All she could think of was how she'd have her own stash of Pokeballs and her own opportunity to catch those very same Pokemon within the hour.

By the time she'd made it up the winding path and steep incline to Professor Oak's lab, Misty was wildly out of breath and wishing for the life of her that she had a bike to carry her during those long and trying distances.

"I'm here!" she gasped breathlessly, hands on her knees as she hunched forward and attempted to slow her racing heart before wiping her brow. "Professor Oak? I came to pick up Eevee!"

"You're too late, Misty. Eevee was given to a trainer who actually cared enough to show up on time," a familiar, somber voice told her from somewhere in front of her.

Misty felt her heart gloss over with a sheer film of fear at this news as she raised her head to meet the messenger of such dire news face-to-face.

"Hah! Gotcha!" Gary Oak, grandson to the famed Pokemon professor of the same surname, couldn't conceal his smirk as the redheaded preteen.

"Grr, Gary, you're the worst!" she screeched, hands bunched into fists at her side and fangs bared at the Pallet Town native, after such a fright. His impish nature dissolved into a softer camaraderie as he jacked a thumb over his shoulder and nodded in response.

"C'mon, Misty, gramps is waiting in the back office for you."

The redheaded girl, nerves of steel liquifying into mush with every step she took, followed one of her best friends through the lobby, down the hall, under an archway, past a couple of the professor's assistants who were busy working on their computers or analyzing data or filing results.

Finally, the two of them approached a winding, circular stairway, daunting and solitary, that led up to Professor Oak's private office.

Twenty steps, Misty couldn't help thinking, twenty or so paces until the first step towards her dream of becoming the world's greatest Pokemon Master came to pass.

Nineteen… eighteen… fifteen… twelve… seven…

And it all still seemed so unreal.

"Ah, Misty, you showed up after all? Just in time! I thought I might have to give Eevee to one of your peers!" the elderly man guffawed somewhat affectionately, replacing the book he'd been apparently skimming before his guests arrived and stepping forward to take in the sight of her.

Misty had just opened her mouth to call his bluff but Gary did so first from beside her.

"Nice try, gramps, but I already cracked that joke on the way here!"

"Ah, well, best we move on straight to the main event! Ash, are you willing to join us?" Professor Oak asked, craning his neck in the direction of his office desk.

A boy with wild black hair, chestnut eyes, and - presently - a deeply furrowed brow and gritted teeth swiveled around in the chair he was sitting in, pouncing to his feet and storming up to the slightly younger girl in a huff.

"Oh, Ash, you made it after all, huh?" Misty blinked and pointed, the corner of her mouth twisting awkwardly up at him at the sight of his stubborn temper.

"Made it?! Misty, I've been waiting here for you this whole time! Geez, you dummy, who in their right mind would be late to something so important, huh?" he yelled, turning his nose up at her after. "And after I came all this way from Cerulean City and had to endure sharing a room with  _him_ ," he finished lamely, jerking his head in Gary's direction.

"Ah, Ash… Doesn't it remind you of when we were younger, before the league separated us and we were forced to take up the mantles of Cerulean and Viridian Gym leaders? We were so close then, sharing dreams and scars alike! Who would have guessed Ashy-boy would grow up to be so cold and distant as the years passed…?" the auburn-haired teenager fawned with a fake sigh of over-dramatic resignation, leaning against his childhood best friend (and, to a point, rival).

"And who woulda guessed you'd grow up to be such a weirdo?" Ash deadpanned in response, stepping away just enough so Gary lost his balance and nearly fell over. "Seriously, Misty, why couldn't I have just stayed at your place anyway?"

"Well, it's a bit cramped with the four of us there already," the redhead noted absently in reference to her three older siblings, "Plus my sisters were telling me that it's - um, how'd they word it? - it's  _unbecoming_ of a young lady to share a room with a young man." And, after completing her recitation, she stood straight and stiff, one hand clasped to the back of her head. "Whatever they mean by that! Haha!"

So swift was her emotional transition that she missed everyone's reactions, from the professor's soft chuckle at her innocence to Ash's scandalized (not to mention oddly flushed) facial expression to Gary's blank stare twisting itself into a grotesque smirk at the raven-haired boy's obvious discomfort at the implication.

"But now that I'm going to start my Pokemon journey, I can make those decisions for myself! And I - well…" Misty faltered, gaze averting momentarily to a smudge she happened to notice on the linoleum tiles below her, then stretched to her full height again and stood determinedly to face the bulk of her audience, "... I have something I wanna ask you both when we're done here… But, for now, can I finally see Eevee, professor?"

"Absolutely, young lady, follow me over here."

The group of four collectively ventured towards a large cylindrical podium erected beyond the bookshelves lining the walls of Professor Oak's office. Upon the podium were four spherical indentations, symmetrically lined buttons in front of each one as if they were respective partners.

The professor pressed one of the buttons and the round window adjacent to it split open to form a small cavity. Within moments, a single Pokeball was lifted up and out of it. All four spectators stared it down as if the moment was too fragile to disrupt.

"This has been a long time comin', huh?" Gary whispered, somewhat in awe despite having more experience than either of his two companions with such events.

"Almost a whole year…" Ash gulped back his growing excitement, betraying a quick grin, "You have a lot of catching up to do, Myst. You think you got what it takes?"

Misty gave a faint nod but made no other attempts at movement.

"Go ahead, Miss Waterflower, you can pick it up," the professor coaxed.

The redhead finally found the self-awareness and moxi to reach one hand out to grasp the Pokeball, removing it from the pedestal and staring fondly at it for the following few seconds.

Her first Pokemon. Hers. And she was Eevee's trainer. It was finally happening.

"... I choose you, Eevee! C'mon out!" she affirmed triumphantly, tossing the Pokeball into the air.

There was a flash of red light, a silhouette forming before shaping into an animal-like form, which reared back on its hind legs and then back onto all fours, shaking itself off.

"Ee… vee?" the normal fox-looking Pokemon uttered in confusion. Then she took in the four people watching her, rounding on her trainer last of all, after which her face lit up in joy. "Eevee eev!" she exclaimed, leaping into Misty's arms without a thought of caution against it.

"Hi, Eevee! Ooh, it's good to see you again!" the redhead told her new Pokemon, tightening their embrace just enough to notice and rubbing her cheek against the normal-type's fluffy coat. "Today's the day! Are you as excited as I am?"

Eevee responded in kind to her trainer's jubilation and the two shared a few more minutes of tender affection and conversation before they were redirected to the task at hand.

"So this is your Pokedex," Professor Oak told her, and she offered him her gratitude in response to receiving it, Eevee, Ash, and Gary at her side. "It houses any data available for any Pokemon you point it at if you press this button here." And he pointed it out to her for good measure.

"It also features some other basic functions,"Gary chimed in. "Like a general map of the Kanto region and a form of ID in case you need it. It's pretty helpful."

"Yeah, sounds like it…" Misty nodded in response. "Is there anything else I need to know before I head out?"

"Well, I don't know if you've read up on it yourself and I've formed a habit of telling new trainers because it sometimes comes as a bit of a shock. Whenever you catch a Pokemon, it's registered to you through your trainer identification number, which your Pokedex also monitors. There is, however, a maximum of six Pokemon able to be carried at a time - one of the League's rules of conduct - so any number of Pokemon you catch beyond that will be transferred automatically to your home region's registered housing facility. In this case, that would be my lab here in Pallet Town. You'll be able to switch out members of your team at any PokeCenter if you need to," Professor Oak informed her. "I would also suggest you stop by the vending machine on your way out. You can buy basic supplies such as Pokeballs and potions if you've got the funds available. It's a great safety precaution that many new trainers take advantage of."

"Good to know, thanks! Well," the redhead paused, turning to face her two friends, "like I said before, would it be okay to talk to you both now? I'll… be leaving after this, ya know?"

"Ah, yeah, let's head out to the ranch house," Gary told her, jacking his thumb over his shoulder, beyond and downstairs of which was a sliding door that would lead them to their destination.

"Mm'kay, C'mon, Eevee, Ash!" she replied, smiling down at her Pokemon partner and grabbing the teenage boy by the hand, dragging him behind her.

It was less than five minutes to the human habitable house that Professor Oak lived in (and Gary and Ash often frequented ever since they'd moved away from Pallet Town to become gym leaders). In the back door and through the den they went, the two boys diving onto the couch to play the attentive audience awaiting Misty's inquiry for them.

The redhead shuffled back and forth one heel to the other. At some point she flopped down into the armchair adjacent to her friends, allowing Eevee to hop up into her lap, and she couldn't help herself from hiding her face behind her Pokemon's downy coat.

"So… are you gonna say something? We're losing daylight, ya know? Which is kinda important for someone who's already a year or so behind everyone else," Ash reminded her in a huff.

"Ah, um… Well, I mean, you said it, Ash. I've waited so long - even longer than most other kids - for this day to come. And it's thanks to you guys a lot because of how much you've helped me. Without Gary, I wouldn't have been able to get Eevee," she bashfully commented, "... and without Ash-"

At the sound of his name, the raven-haired gym trainer perked up in attention….

"-I'd never have met Gary."

… Only to immediately look put out again though Misty didn't seem to notice.

"You both helped me learn how to be a good trainer and you helped my family move from Cerulean to Pallet Town so I could prepare for my licensing exam. You guys have been there for me so much that waiting all that extra time for Eevee to be ready to travel with me doesn't worry me! Because of you, I feel like I can handle  _anything_.

"So, um, I know this comes kinda at the very last second and I  _know_ you both have gyms to run but…" One last deep cleansing breath for courage and an affectionate lick of reassurance from the Eevee in her arms and Misty was finally able to spit her request out.

"... But do you think you would be able to join me out there on the road?"

The room was quiet after such a considerable question. Eevee leapt down from Misty's arms and sat up on all fours at her side while Ash and Gary stared them down before turning to glance at each other, then back at her once more.

"You don't know a thing about timing, do ya?" Ash asked her with a wave of his hand. "Ten minutes until you're out the door and on the road and  _now_ you wanna say somethin' about us going with ya?" he appeared to admonish her, even as he leaned over the side of his seat to grab a hold of what Misty recognized a few moments later as his usual backpack that he used while traveling back and forth between Cerulean City and Pallet Town.

"You're just lucky I already planned for this and had my things packed," he went on with a smirk before adding as an afterthought, " _and_ that my mom is a decent enough trainer to cover the Cerulean Gym in my place."

"You'll come?" Misty replied breathlessly. "You mean it?"

"Of course! You only got this far 'cause of me anyway, right? Isn't that what you just said?"

Despite him appearing to stroke his own ego, Misty was overcome with relief at his willingness to join her as she started her adventure as a Pokemon trainer. In fact, both of them were so wrapped up in their moment that they completely forgot about the third human member of their group who had yet to utter a single word in response to the redhead's request.

Gary made a point to clear his throat and get their attention, though once he had it, he chose to leave his two friends dangling a little longer. Served them right for forgetting about him like that!

"Well, unlike  _this_ loser," he began, nodding at Ash, who scowled in response, "I don't share my responsibilities as a gym leader with my  _mom_."

"Oh, right…" Misty replied, looking decidedly discouraged.

That was what she got for waiting until the last second to ask her best friends such a huge favor. She should have known better. Well, in fact, she  _did_ know better but she just hadn't been able to pluck up the nerve to bring up the matter before today. Asking someone - let alone two people - to shirk their duties and put their lives basically on hold for an indefinite amount of time was no simple task after all.

"... I'll need an hour or so to pack."

Misty's head was alight and buzzing madly in response to this comment.

"Wait, so you  _can_ …?"

"I may not share the gym with my mom but I  _do_ share it with a few other trainers who work under me. They can nominate someone between the three of them to cover my place while I'm gone. I mean, what am I supposed to do? Just expect the two of you to somehow be able to survive on your own? You can't cook, you've never been anywhere except Cerulean and Pallet, you're too gullible! You somehow completely fell for my joke that Eevee had been given to another new trainer even though the whole point of you waiting until today to start your journey was  _because_ you were waiting for Eevee to hatch and be old and experienced enough to start battling! And Ash isn't much better than you are, Misty. Trust me on this; you both  _need_ me. If I let you go alone you'll both probably starve - or kill each other."

She wasn't sure if she was more affronted or appeased by Gary's final answer at first. She supposed it was best just to take the good and run with it…

"Yes! Do you hear that, Eevee?! All of us will get to travel together! Yay!" Misty cheered, her Pokemon starter almost immediately joining her, and Ash and Gary too in a much more contained fashion.

Yeah, the redhead thought, it was best to look on the bright side of things.

Besides, she could always get revenge on Gary later for his jokes.

OoO

The group of three humans and one Pokemon eventually finished the packing and communications needing to be done and ventured beyond the famed Oak properties. It was as they approached the front gate and the junction in one of Pallet Town's many dirt paths that Ash nudged Misty, who'd been busy smiling and conversing with Eevee, the Pokemon trotting along beside her. He drew her attention to the group of three older girls waiting for them to approach.

"Wha-? Daisy, Lily, Violet, what are you doing here? I told you that you didn't have to come see me off!" the redhead yelped, face flushed a little at the sight of her two middle siblings holding up a banner that read 'Go, Misty, go!' in colorful, fluid font and her oldest sibling in front alternating between clapping her hands and jumping up and down.

"Oh, c'mon now, little sis, like we would just let you run off without a proper goodbye on such an important day! Like, besides, you didn't eat anything before you went and you were in such a hurry that you forgot a few things!" Daisy replied.

Lily accepted Violet's half of the banner and began rolling it up, holding it under one arm when she was finished, and Violet bent down to pick something up off the ground.

"Here you are, Misty! This backpack has, like, a couple extra outfits for you to wear, some shampoo and body wash, an emergency potion, a couple snacks - you  _did_ skip breakfast after all, and a pre-filtered canteen so you can, like, have fresh, clean water anywhere," the young woman with long, dark hair explained to her with a wink. "Can't let our little sister run around smelling like a Grimer, even if she is just the runt of the family!"

"Hey! Don't call me that!" the redheaded novice replied, but she snatched the bag from her older sister's hands anyway, refusing to utter more than a whisper of gratitude for the gift.

"Ooh, is this your Eevee? We only met her once but she's grown up to be such a cutie since then!" Lily exclaimed, flipping one of her wavy tresses over her shoulder with her free hand. "Listen, I think I've got, like, the best idea! Why don't  _we_ take Eevee under our wing? I mean, she'd be a perfect fit for our sensational image, don't you think? And you boys can totally see to it that Misty catches some Rattata or something as her first Pokemon instead! That would fit  _her_ image better anyway!"

She leaned down to scratch Eevee under the chin and around where her scalp met her ears, the Pokemon eagerly leaning in, not understanding what the human had been bartering about before.

"Uh-uh! Eevee's mine, you guys! Don't even think you can steal her away!"

Misty leapt between her sister and her precious Pokemon, expression grim yet firmly obstinate. She began to buckle when everyone, including Ash and Gary, broke down into a fit of laughter at her expense.

"But, like, in all seriousness…" Daisy began, and Violet popped up beside her, hands momentarily concealing something before she revealed a confetti party popper and tugged it to an explosive opening.

Misty stared speechlessly at this predicament, unable to even take the time to shake the glittery dots out of her hair, hands still up in a fighting stance… only for Daisy to take her shock as the perfect opportunity to pull her into her embrace.

"You'll be great, little sis. You've wanted this for a real long time and you've got friends to back you up when you need it. We know you'll do good out there," the blond-haired girl whispered into her youngest sibling's hair.

Misty felt the faintest burn at the corners of her eyes as a tear or two began to well up at such considerate words but she blinked them away. She didn't want to think about how much she'd actually miss her older sisters. That was part of the reason she'd avoided a goodbye altogether earlier that morning.

Lily and Violet both joined in the hug as well, smothering Misty with an overwhelming (and somewhat overheated) calming familiarity.

No matter their flighty, vain, teasing tendencies, her sisters had all still agreed to pack up and move to Pallet Town just so she could remain close to Eevee before the Pokemon hatched and after she started learning how to manage basic fighting skills, putting their primary plans to start a fashion and modeling troupe on hold so that the redhead could study to pass her trainer's exam. All shallow qualms aside, her sisters must have loved her to go that far.

"Uuh, I hate to interrupt but… it's already after one o'clock. If we're gonna start making headway, we really need to get going soon..." Ash reminded them tentatively in the background.

"Okay, I guess this is it then," Misty gulped back a sigh as she was released from the mashing of family limbs and emotions. "I'll call when we make it to Viridian City. Thanks, you three, for all the supplies and… And, um, just thanks, okay?"

"Good luck, Misty!" all three young women crooned in farewell, waving her, Ash, Gary, and Eevee off as the group of trainers began advancing on the road that would lead them beyond the outskirts of Pallet Town.

Their cheers and hollers of farewell faded into the sky as Misty trekked onward, leading the way towards an unknown but surely great future.

One step off the beaten path and into the grass and the whole world opened up before her wide, doe-like eyes, all her reservations evaporating into unfettered excitement.

Journey start!

OoOoO

 **Notes**  - As you may have noticed, Gary is taking over Brock's role from the anime, and Ash and Misty's personalities have been mixed and switched around here and there. You'll see more examples of that by next chapter. As a whole, this story blends together aspects and plot points of both the anime and game, and just a smidgen from the Adventures manga (since I don't know enough to reference more than that). Hopefully this combination will create an overall unique enough read to keep people interested for the whole thing.

This story will be at least thirteen chapters (since there are thirteen pages to Miya's comic), but the chapters will be mostly episodic. I'm also possibly planning a bonus chapter or two that are entirely flashbacks dating to before Misty started her journey (including her basis for wanting to be a Pokemon Master, her introductions to Ash, Gary, etc, and so on) but I may just squish some of these things into separate chapters as I see fit. Still trying to figure it all out to be honest.

Anyway, reviews and likes and reblogs and etc (depending on what site you view this on) are appreciated. I'll update with the next chapter by the end of January.


	2. Part One : Gastly

**Authors** \- Warlordess and Miyatoriaka

 **Notes** \- Welcome to the next part of the major motion fanfic of the century! MiyaToriaka has beta-ed both the prologue as well as chapter one and given them both her personal seal of approval, so I guess that means we're good to post!

Anyway, here's hoping you all enjoy!

OoO

 **Title** \- "An Alternate Journey"

 **Summary** \- Eleven year old novice trainer Misty starts her Pokemon adventure, best friends Gary and Ash by her side. But will she withstand every test her travels throw at her and become the greatest master trainer of all time? Fic co-crafted with famous fan-artist, Miyatoriaka!

 **Ages** \- Misty and Leaf are eleven years old, Ash and Gary are thirteen, and the adults are adult-aged so who cares about 'em? Lol.

 **Chapter One** \- Gastly

OoOoO

Four days. Four days and five nights. That's how long their group had been trapped in the god-forsaken Viridian Forest.

Ash sighed in resignation, grabbing his faded and dusty backpack and tossing it over one shoulder, eyeing a nearby Caterpie as it wriggled its way up the fir pine tree stretching to the sky before it, then began to kick dirt onto the campfire he and Gary had made the night before.

He'd walked through this very same forest a hundred times before over the course of the past few years, trekked the same path, saw the same cluster upon cluster of trees… Ash Ketchum knew Viridian Forest like the back of his hand and one thing he could say about this place was that it was b-o-r-i-n-g.

The place was a natural breeding center for bug-type Pokemon, which he couldn't help but resent with a passion due to their advantage against grass-type Pokemon; his favorite type. However this information didn't stop Misty from trying to keep their group there as long as possible while she attempted to catch them all, almost constantly switching paths on a dime and getting them turned around and confused.

Did he say he knew this forest like the back of his hand? Well, he meant he knew the relatively straight path connecting Viridian to Pewter City. As for all of the other ones that slowly formed after decades had passed, he had no idea. The map was a little outdated and pretty rough and generalized to begin with. It was almost impossible to read sometimes unless one of them (Gary) woke up early enough to catch which way the sun was rising from and used that knowledge to decipher which direction was North.

"Please,  _please_ tell me today is the day we finally get out of here," Ash groaned, halfheartedly gazing in the direction of his friends.

"Who knows?" Gary replied cryptically, averting his gaze to the sky.

"No way! That bug catcher I battled last night had a Pinsir and he said he caught it around here!" Misty practically shouted in exuberance, twisting on her heel and facing a nearby group of bushes as if expecting the very same Pokemon species to come leaping out of them, ripe for the catching.

"Misty, c' _moooon_ …" Ash whined, "We've been stuck here for over half a week! You're already a year or so behind your class of licensed trainers! Are you really going to spend a whole nother one weeding out Viridian Forest?!"

The redhead merely pouted in return, causing Ash to avert his gaze to avoid any slight pinch of guilt she was pressuring him to feel. The moment was interrupted almost immediately by a nearby tree rustling, and the whole lot of them stiffened in expectation, Misty and Eevee ready to hop on the offensive at a moment's notice.

A Rattata scrambled down the trunk and wound itself in the opposite direction of the group of adolescents with a bramble covered in leaves and berries clenched in its teeth.

Misty sighed, disappointed, kneeling to pat Eevee, ruffling her fringe in thanks for her effort in being proactive towards their goals.

"Just a Rattata, huh…? Well we've already caught one of those anyway."

"As much as I hate to admit it, Ashy-boy may be on to something," Gary chimed in from the background.

"Wha'd'ya mean?"

"We should have arrived in Pewter City last night at the latest. We're running low on food and Pokemon supplies. If we don't get out of here by tomorrow morning, we'll probably be completely out," the auburn-haired gym trainer warned them all, sobering up Misty's former mood rather impressively.

"Ah… okay, fine then, I guess we'll try and figure something out."

"I mean, no matter what, we're still lost, right?" Ash asked, choosing to ignore his old friend's jab from before.

"Hmm…" The redhead responded cautiously, deep in thought. "Maybe Pidgey would be able to fly high enough to see which way we should go?" And she removed the Pokeball from her belt and showed it to her friends.

"Maybe," Gary begrudgingly agreed, "but, then again, you caught him just outside of Pallet Town so he doesn't know this area well, plus you've barely bonded with him so he might be unwilling to help you out with something like this, and he might have trouble tracking his way back to us. Not to mention Pidgey aren't very fast until after they've grown some or evolved and yours is pretty young."

"Okay, but that's our only real option other than wandering around and hoping to find the exit or running into another trainer who can help us out, right? So…" Ash wondered aloud.

"Well, I'm okay with staying here!" Misty replied, hands clasped before her and then she punched one enthusiastically up into the air.

"Of course you are," the raven-haired trainer deadpanned.

"I guess we'll go with Plan B, which is terrible but still somehow slightly better than Plan A."

"So should we bother stopping for lunch when the time comes or keep walking?" Misty asked.

"Like I said, we're kinda low on supplies. It would probably be best to skip lunch if we can and just have a slightly early dinner. Then we might have some leftovers to snack on in the morning if we're still lost and haven't found anyone to help us out."

"Yeah, maybe I'll be able to get some training in with Pidgey and Rattata while we look around! We gotta beef up for our first gym match anyway, right? And maybe I'll catch a Pinsir after all!"

So, settled on that plan, the group of four began ambling around, mostly sticking to the current path unless they happened to run into another that traveled straighter, since that one would more likely get them further faster. Every once in awhile one of them would step a short distance away to see if they'd run into another trainer but there didn't seem to be anyone else around.

Evening fell swiftly, the wind picking up enough to rustle the trees and distract them from their mission. When the group decided there was too little sunlight left to tell where they were going, they finally chose to set up camp instead.

"Hey, guys, I think I'm gonna keep training nearby. I'll come back right away if I run into someone who can help us find a way out of here," Misty took the opportunity to say.

"By the way," Ash brought up after exchanging a particular knowing glance with Gary, "it's great and all that you wanna get to know and train up your Pokemon and I get that your choices have been kinda limited so far, but you might wanna think about expanding your team beyond normal and bug types. The first gym uses rock-type Pokemon so nothing you've caught so far is gonna stand much chance."

"Yeah, a water or fighting type would do you some good but they're kinda scarce in this area. Maybe you can find a grass-type?"

"See?" Ash said smugly, "This is why you should have bred your starter using my Ivysaur instead of  _his_ Eevee! That woulda given you a good head start, huh?"

"But your Bulbasaur is so picky!" Misty replied skeptically, hands on her hips. "If I'd chosen to breed my first Pokemon with you, I would have probably been stuck waiting five years instead of one!" A moment later and she knelt down to Eevee, who was sitting beside her, patting and scratching her affectionately behind the ears. "Plus I wouldn't trade my Eevee for anything!"

Ash, put out somehow for reasons he couldn't quite place by her response, turned away and plopped his backpack on the ground.

"Anyway, we'll start working on dinner-"

"-Who's 'we'?" Gary replied dryly, " _You_ can't cook any better than  _her_ -"

"-so just head back in about an hour or so."

"Gotcha!"

And she and her Pokemon disappeared further into the woods.

The rest of the evening went by rather smoothly. Misty returned at the given time with no luck of finding them an escape route and she and Ash joined Gary for dinner, before taking on their responsibility of washing the pot and dishware they'd used. Dusk turned to complete dark and, with a few attempts at rekindling the fire, the group prepared to turn in for the night, hoping against hope that they'd indeed find their way to Pewter City by the next afternoon.

However there was one thing Misty had to ask before the night was through.

"Hey, Ash?" Misty asked curiously as she drew her hairbrush through a thick lock of red.

"Hmm…?" The response sounded somewhat lethargic from the other side of the fire.

"Can we have a practice battle?"

"Wait, what?" He seemed much more alert in retaliation to that question. "Do you mean right now?"

"Well, maybe not  _now_ ," she corrected, sitting down in her sleeping bag and tossing the brush unceremoniously back into her bag. "But tomorrow? I've beaten every bug catcher and wild Pokemon I've come up against. I -  _we_ \- could use some more challenging experience," she finished, eyeing Eevee asleep beside her as she skillfully maneuvered herself into her sleeping bag without jostling the Pokemon awake. "We should be in town by tomorrow afternoon and then I'll be having… my first gym battle, right…?" she finished with a yawn, laying back and blinking blearily up at the crescent moon shining above her.

She could barely make it out beyond the canopy of the forest.

"Well, I mean, I  _am_ a gym trainer myself, and you wouldn't usually fight me until later on," he told her proudly, sitting up and puffing out his chest. "If you're worried about having a hard time against your first gym leader, I doubt battling  _me_ is gonna help make matters easier for ya!"

The raven-haired gym trainer laughed egotistically to himself for the next minute or so, Gary choosing to ignore him in lieu of throwing himself into his own sleeping bag for the night. Of course, after enough time had passed, Ash realized he hadn't garnered any response and craned his neck to try and get a look at his female companion from across the campfire.

"Misty…?"

Still nothing.

"Hey, Misty!" he tried again, tone sharp. There was  _no way_ she was already-

"-Asleep," Gary noted with a shrug. "Such a shame too, Ashy-boy. She missed your oh-so chivalrous moment of braggery."

"Whatever," the other boy scoffed, turning his nose up and hoping the flickering fire didn't do anything to highlight the awkward flush on his face, and both of them laid back and tried to sleep.

It was some time later when Misty snapped awake, the light of the full moon too much to ignore… or maybe it was the pearl white of the fog that had set in during the couple of hours she'd been asleep…?

She sat up in her sleeping bag, the zipper coming automatically undone as she did so. Eevee felt her trainer stir and began to wake as well, rising up onto all fours and stretching, leaning in and licking the human's hand.

"Eevee eev?"

"Ah, sorry to wake you, girl. I just… I'm just thirsty, I guess," the redhead said, licking her dry lips and clearing her throat as she looked around for her canteen.

Something in the air seemed strange. Different. She couldn't make out much of anything definitive in her surroundings. The smoldering of the cinders in the campfire seemed to fade right before her eyes as she stood up, slipping on her sneakers and bending down to tie them.

Where was it…? Where was her canteen? Where was her bag of supplies and her Pokebelt and… where was…

The question faded from her head, evaporating like the white of the fog before her.

"Eevee, let's look around some, okay?" she asked warily of her Pokemon partner.

"Eevee!" the normal-type responded confidently and the two of them began their trek.

It seemed the world grew a degree colder with every step and their unknown destination farther, their sights dimmer. They were getting everywhere and nowhere at once, walking neck deep in white nothingness looking for the first thing they could find that would indicate a change.

"I - it's really cold now…" Misty murmured from between chattering teeth. "Shoulda brought my jacket with me."

Right, her jacket, which had been sitting folded next to her shoes when she slept. So she could just turn around and walk back the way she'd come from to find it, she figured, turning on her heel, then coming to a sudden stop at the sight before her.

It was her sleeping bag, laid out just as it had been before, barely two feet away.

Something didn't add up. Something wasn't right.

Misty sighed, growing agitated, throwing her head back as she groaned, the full moon above her shining so clearly and nothing - no trees, no clouds, nothing at all - blocking it from view. The same with her sleeping bag, it was the only clear item she could make out for miles, and it seemed almost hypnotic because of that contrast.

"Eevee…" Misty whispered, though she trailed off almost immediately.

"Eevee? Eev eevee eev!"

The cries of her Pokemon seemed so far away, and it took too much effort to look down. She just kept staring at that smoky full moon.

Wait… smoky…?

"... isty…?"

And why was the moon... suddenly full…?

"Misty?"

"Eevee?" her Pokemon chirped from far away.

Wasn't it a quarter moon when she'd first fallen asleep?

"Eevee, have you seen my… my bag? And do you hear that? Who's calling my name?"

"Misty, snap out... it!"

"Why does the moon look… so… so full?"

As soon as the final word left her lips, all of the vibrant white and cold and fog whirled away, sucked instantaneously into an invisible rift. Everything became much louder all at once, disorienting her, and she realized the fogginess had been inside her own head, as though she were ailing with fever.

She inhaled sharply, swaying on her feet, but everything that had been missing, that she'd been looking for, that she otherwise hadn't been able to figure out, came back to her so swiftly that it almost  _hurt_.

"Eevee! Ash! Gary! My-"

"You finally woke up!" Ash exclaimed in relief, at her side and a hand on her shoulder. "We were worried. You've been staring at the sky for the past twenty minutes. We didn't know what was happening!"

"I was what?" the redhead replied tiredly, holding a hand up to her forehead and drawing away a sheer layer of sweat. It had felt at the time like she'd jogged an entire marathon…

"What happened to me?"

"Don't know," Gary told her, on her other side and handing her canteen over so she could sip some water. It was at this point that Misty noticed her backpack and jacket sitting just where she'd left them beside her sleeping bag. "Like Ash said, you got up a little while ago, I heard you do that and woke up to you putting your shoes on, and then you just stopped and started staring at the moon. Eevee and I tried calling out to you but you didn't seem to hear us. That's what woke Ash up. It was almost like you were hypnotized."

"Hypnotized…" the other two trainers quoted unanimously, though Ash sounded a lot tenser all of a sudden.

"That wasn't the moon! I think that was a-"

And Misty dived for her bag, fishing out her Pokedex and flipping it open by pushing the small button on the side.

"Pokedex searching… Pokedex searching…" the mechanical voice tweeted, and the digital display indicated via arrows which direction she should face with it.

"Misty, you think it was a Pokemon that did… whatever it did to you?"

"Eevee eev eev eevee!" her starter shouted, leaning onto her haunches as if to say she was ready for a fight.

"Well it's not like I usually just stand still and stare indefinitely into space, is it?" the redhead bit back more harshly than she meant to.

"One unknown Pokemon found," her Pokedex chimed in before Ash could come up with his own witty retort to her comment.

"Unknown, huh? Doesn't really help us much, does it?"

"Unknown Pokemon in Viridian Forest in the middle of the night? Well, I doubt it's a legendary…" Gary commented, leaning forward and taking her Pokedex into his hands.

"A legendary?" she replied blankly.

"A really,  _really_ strong Pokemon," Ash explained warily. " _Usually_  having to do with local folklore and  _usually_ very rare, like one-of-a-kind rare."

"Ooh…"

"But it's probably definitely not one of those. The chances that they'd just show themselves to a bunch of random trainers like this are highly unlikely. More likely it's a Pokemon you haven't seen yet and that's hiding its identity from us for whatever reason, like maybe a ghost-type?" Gary concluded.

"A ghost-type?!" Misty shouted in glee, on her feet again so quickly that both of her male companions were blown backwards by the maneuver.

As soon as Ash made it to his feet again, he scurried back to his sleeping bag, peeking his head out at the others as sweat began to pour from his brow.

"A g - ghost-type Pokemon?! You're joking, right?!" he yelped, shaking like a leaf, creeping away from their group in sudden obvious terror.

"Uuh… okay…?" Misty commented in confusion at his response to the possibility.

"You didn't know?" Gary asked absently, still flipping through her Pokedex from his spot on the ground. "Ash is scared of ghost-type Pokemon."

"He is?"

"I - I'm not! I just…" And, with much more effort than it should have taken, the raven-haired trainer slithered his way out of his sleeping bag, ambling shakily to a standing position, "...  _don't_ like them! Everyone's allowed to have something they don't like, aren't they?"

"Well, yeah, but…"

"While I'm impressed that you've been able to hide your phobia from Misty for the past three years or so… here ya go," Gary finished with a proud smirk, tossing Misty's Pokedex back into her arms. "These are the only ghost-types native to Kanto. Chances are it's one of them."

"Really? Thanks!" Misty replied, looking over the profile photos one after another. "Let's see… Gengar…"

Flip.

"... Haunter…"

Flip.

"... And Gastly."

She paused on the last image on her screen, taking in the Pokemon's perfectly round physical form and the dark, poisonous smog floating around it.

"I think this is it!" she exclaimed, brows furrowing as her lips curled into a smirk, belying her confidence.

"Gastly, come out of hiding already! It's game over!" she shouted, picking up her Pokebelt and snapping it into place behind her waist, smashing her cap onto her head and preparing for battle.

There was a poof of smoldering dark and a hollow echoing chuckle from above her, the small gassy Pokemon floating down to eye level with the trainer who'd unraveled his ruse.

"Gastly gaaas…!" he howled in laughter.

"Let's see what the Pokedex has to say…" she murmured, ignoring Ash as he tiptoed stealthily behind her.

There was a high-pitched ping followed by, "Gastly, the gas Pokemon. It is usually invisible to the human eye. Its specialty is its hypnosis."

"Sounds familiar…" the redhead begrudgingly admitted to herself, doing her best (and failing) to ignore Ash's fingernails digging into her arms every time the ghost-type Pokemon floated to and fro. "Wait, is that all you have to say?!" she screeched at her Pokedex, shaking it hard, frantic tears running from her squinting eyes.

"By enveloping larger opponents with gas, Gastly is able to defeat them."

"Okaaay…" Misty ground out, withdrawing the small device for the time being. "I guess we're just gonna have to figure it out as we go, right, Eevee?" And she smiled confidently at her Pokemon before throwing out an arm and pointing forward. "Let's battle! Eevee, tackle!"

Her Pokemon barked its own name in agreement, leaping into the fray, but the moment was interrupted almost immediately by Gary's wisdom.

"Actually, normal-type moves won't have any effect on ghost-type Pokemon."

"Wait, what?" the redhead squeaked.

Eevee, who'd already began dashing full speed at her opponent, attempted her straight-forward assault only to pass completely through Gastly and land on all fours in a patch of dirt behind it.

"So what do I do?"

"Run away really fast and never get involved with a ghost Pokemon again?" Ash practically whimpered into her ear, leading Misty to scoff and shake him off.

There was another familiar ping from her pocket. She scrambled to remove her Pokedex from within, watching as her Eevee leapt to and fro around a still jovial Gastly, which was poofing in and out of sight, sometimes creeping up from behind.

"Although Gastly's amorphous body allows it to sneak around almost anywhere, it's practically weightless physique means it can be easily blown away by the wind."

"Yeah, that! Let's do that!" Ash shouted emphatically.

"I don't wanna blow it away, I wanna catch it!"

"Still, seems like flying attacks are your best bet either way," Gary sagely advised. "Now might be a good time to call out your Pidgey. You said you wanted to train him up some, right?"

"Okay, okay…" Misty sighed, putting her Pokedex away one last time and grasping to the left of her belt for that particular Pokeball. "Eevee, come back! Come on out, Pidgey!"

A lot of things seemed to happen all at once. Eevee indeed returned to her side just as Pidgey took swiftly to the air in a flash of red light. Misty naturally thanked her starter for keeping the ghost-type busy while she came up with her next strategy, and Gastly… Gastly, rather than looking even mildly wary or panicked over having to face an opponent that could potentially do some damage, seemed instead to be despondent over the fact that its original playmate had retreated.

"Pidgey, use your gust!"

The flying-type Pokemon dived down then swooped back into a vertical stance, using his wings to suspend himself in mid-air. His flapping grew more and more intense until the campfire light began to flicker and dirt bellowed up into a gritty smog.

Gastly did its best to stand its ground against its adversary but to no avail, its gaseous cover beginning to fade into the dark of the night, and even its orb-like body starting to spin on its axis as it began blowing away.

Finally, with one last wrenching rotation of its core and a few attempts of phasing out from between the windy gusts, Gastly vanished with a final decidedly less jolly wail of its name.

"Aaah, no! I said I wanted to catch it!" Misty cried with a stomp of her foot, fists clenched at her sides. "Shoot! Who knows when o - or even  _if_ I'll see another ghost-type!"

Pidgey flew back to his trainer, who offered him a half-hearted thanks, and Ash finally seemed to calm down and regain his steady footing. Gary stepped forward too with some surprisingly wise words.

"Well, whether you caught it or chased it off, coming out on top of a ghost-type Pokemon this early in your career as a trainer says a lot about your skill."

"And I'm just glad you took my advice and blew that thing away!"

Misty, originally smiling in kind to Gary's compliment, scowled and muttered, "I wasn't trying to! I didn't know Pidgey's gust would be so strong…"

And, grim expression set upon her face, she took one firm step forward and cupped her hands around her mouth before shouting into the very early morning sky…

"I wish you'd come back, Gastly!"

"Gaaaastly…" the Pokemon in question drawled from out of nowhere, popping into existence beside the group of trainers.

"Ah! You really came back!" Misty yelped, equal parts shocked and excited.

"Gaaaas…" the ghost Pokemon continued to sulk, not looking at her, floating stiffly away.

Ash, who'd done well standing like a granite statue with his lips pursed over the past several seconds, began tiptoeing away from the group again.

"This is pretty surprising. Either Gastly is stronger than we thought or else maybe he just really didn't wanna leave," Gary noted, hand to his chin in thought.

"Hmm… Or maybe both..."

Misty sucked in a breath then cautiously took a step towards the ghost Pokemon.

"Hey, um, Gastly, were you just trying to have fun with Eevee earlier?"

"Gaaas…!" it replied with a subtle nod, barely looking in her direction.

"And, 'cause it's kinda important for me to know, did you mean to hurt me when you used your hypnosis?"

Gastly seemed downright aghast at the accusation.

"Gastly! Gaaastly!" it wailed ashamedly, shaking its round body back and forth as if to say 'no'.

"So you were just trying to play games and make new friends?"

"Gastly!" was accompanied by another nod.

"Okay then!" the redhead responded with a chipper grin while her audience of a loyal Pidgey, suspicious Ash, and mildly impressed Gary stood in the background. "So, now that I know we're on the same page, I was thinking…"

"No," Ash ground out between gritted teeth from somewhere behind her but she ignored him.

"... How about if you…"

"I said  _no_!" the raven-haired gym leader stated more vehemently.

"... join me and my other friends on our journey? I promise you'll have all sorts of fun and meet tons of new people and Pokemon!" the redheaded novice finished offering.

Gastly blinked at the female human standing before him with everything shy of open arms. Instead she held up a device that he'd seen capture many a wild Pokemon and take them away in the past, though he had to admit that the overall proposition seemed rather inviting… He looked at the Eevee on all fours at her master's feet, alternating between nuzzling the human's leg and sitting back, tail wagging affectionately.

Next his eyes were automatically drawn to the other two humans standing behind the first, the brown-haired one sporting a smug grin while the last one had the air that many other humans had expressed when he'd snuck up on them for a game of peek-a-boo in the past…

Altogether they seemed like a well-rounded and diverse group… Yes, he might like to call it home, a place at their sides.

"Gastly!" he finally responded with a nod and a toothy smile.

"Really? You'll come?" Misty gasped in glee, holding up the empty Pokeball she'd been carrying. "Yay! So do you mind if I catch you now?"

The ghost-type shook his head and waited willingly for his own capture, disappearing with a poof and a residual red light. The Pokeball shook once… twice… before the button at its center blinked from scarlet to white and it went still.

"Oh my gosh, I did it! I caught a Gastly!" the redhead shouted, dancing forward on the balls of her feet before leaning down to pick up her newest team acquisition. "And without further ado, Gastly, I choose you!"

The ghost-type reappeared in another flash of red and he, his trainer, Pidgey, and Eevee all jumped up and down together in excitement. Afterwards Misty decided to start the formal introductions.

"So you've already met Eevee and Pidgey, and there's Weedle, Metapod, and Rattata too but it might be better to meet them during breakfast later. This guy over  _here_ is Gary," and respective guy offered the new group member a smile before Misty moved on, "aaand that's Ash over there. Oh, but you might wanna-"

Too late. Misty was going to suggest taking it slow but Gastly had gotten so worked up at the sight of all his new friends that he just couldn't help himself, vanishing from her side and popping up in Ash's face with an adoring (or so he was going for, though it came out looking somewhat malicious) expression.

"Gastly!" he said in greeting, and Ash, who'd been petrified in not-fear-nope-definitely-not, leapt first into the air and then back away from the ghost-type.

"Yaaagh! Misty!" the boy yelled at the top of his lungs, scurrying up behind his most recent favorite hiding spot (AKA: Misty's back). "Make this thing stay away from me or else I swear someone's gonna die!"

It was unclear if his final statement was a threat or else a paranoid exaggeration of the ghost-type's powers.

"Hmm…? But he's so cute!" Misty cooed, blushing with both hands to her cheeks. In response, the ghost-type's formerly heartbroken expression at Ash's slights against him mended into something forgiving and tender. "And I'm just so happy that he's coming with us! Why can't you be, Ash?"

"What?! This is the exact opposite of what I wanted! Why should I be happy?! I didn't ask for anything like this!"

"But I'm sure Gastly will be really useful, won't he?" the redhead continued simpering, "I bet he could easily show us out of this forest!"

The ghost-type nodded affirmatively but anymore conversation was cut short by more wise words a la Gary.

"Yeah, but it might be better to get some more sleep first then head out after the sun comes up. We've all only gotten two or three hours."

"I guess… you've got a point!" Misty guffawed before holding up two Pokeballs. "Then we'll get back to this in a little while! Have a good rest, Pidgey; Gastly!"

After both Pokemon had been successfully returned, Gary stepped up and clapped a hand to her shoulder.

"You did good. I think this may have qualified as your first real tough experience as a trainer. A ghost-type is a good start to building a solid team."

"Uuh, excuse me?" Ash called out to them, his voice oddly muffled. "I thought we were going to sleep?"

Apparently he'd dived for his sleeping bag as soon as the opportunity was granted to him.

"They guy sure does move fast when he needs to," Gary lamented with a teasing grin.

OoOoO

 **Notes**  - Gastly has a habit of trying to make friends with the Pokemon of random trainers who wander into Viridian Forest. At least, that's what I was going for. When he used hypnosis on Misty, he meant to just make her fall back into a deep sleep for the rest of the night but there were some unforeseen side-effects. Luckily, he ended up making human friends as well!

The next chapter will be posted within the month. Not sure if it's gonna be one of the planned chapters to do with the comic or a bonus chapter. Either way, I hope everyone looks forward to it!

Likes are nice and commentary is kind!


	3. Chapter Two : Rival

**Authors** \- Warlordess and Miyatoriaka

 

 **Notes** – Here be chapter two/part three of my joint project with Miya, which I decided to post early for Valentine's Day. It’s also Leaf’s introduction, which was a little harder for me to write because I don’t know much of anything about Leaf as a character. I mean, in the games, she’s the avatar of the player’s whim (should they choose a female character) and I’ve barely read the Adventures manga, nor have I seen Origins (and I have no clue if she’s even in it). So I threw a bit of info together from the game and gave a bit of Gary’s mean streak… but also tried to write her as a bit more complicated than your average rival/bully, which eventually shows through between this chapter and the next.

 

According to Miya, Leaf wasn’t necessarily meant to be a reoccurring character in her comic so this may be all we see of her (and the OldRivalshipping) in this story.

 

Anyway, read on and please review! Unless you’re one of those derpy anonymous trolls. If you’re one of those then you can go choke.

 

OoO

 

 **Title** \- “An Alternate Journey”

 

 **Summary** \- Eleven year old novice trainer Misty starts her Pokemon adventure, best friends Gary and Ash by her side. But will she withstand every test her travels throw at her and become the greatest master trainer of all time? Fic co-crafted with famous fan-artist, Miyatoriaka!

 

 **Ages** \- Misty and Leaf are eleven years old, Ash and Gary are thirteen, and the adults are adult-aged so who cares about ‘em? Lol.

 

 **Chapter Two** \- Rival

 

OoOoO

 

The cotton candy sunrise came and went while the three trainers snoozed, making up for their disrupted sleep from the night before. The sun had fully risen by the time they _did_ wake, all of them eating a light breakfast of bread, jam, and fresh fruit before Misty released Gastly so he could direct them towards their next destination: Pewter City.

 

“Wow, we got here much quicker than I thought we would considering how many days we were stuck in Viridian Forest,” Gary noted, his hand saluted against his brow as he took in the sights. He hadn’t visited this staple city recently since his gym and familial locations were settled in the more southern areas of Kanto.

 

“It’s all thanks to Gastly!” Misty responded proudly, “Because of him, Eevee and I will face off against the gym leader here right after a quick trip to the PokeCenter!”

 

“Ah, well, maybe you should pace yourself,” Ash warned her cryptically.

 

“Wha’d’ya mean?”

 

“It’s just… You’ve been a trainer for all of - what? - two weeks, almost half the time of which was spent stuck in one place, and now you wanna march straight up to the nearest gym to demand a battle? Much better prepared trainers than you have set themselves up for major loss because of that kinda recklessness.”

 

“Okaaay… so do _you_ two know anything about the gym? You both are part of the league yourselves, right? There must be something you can tell me.”

 

“Hm, well, like much of the architecture here alludes, the gym utilizes rock-type Pokemon. Unfortunately, there was an upset a few years ago so the trainer in charge has alternated a couple times. Even the representative at league events has varied. Because of that, I dunno what their skill level is or what specific Pokemon they’re likely to use. I _can_ say,” Gary paused to release a huff as the group of three humans and one ground-traversing Pokemon carefully ambled over some particularly uneven terrain leading from the plateau that divided Viridian Forest and Pewter City, “that, due to this gym being the first stop for most new trainers, the league challenge presented is kept at a moderate level.”

 

“Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t expect a good fight though,” Ash began next, almost losing his footing and having to take a moment to regain his step. “The challenge level might be maintained for new trainers but there’s basically no Pokemon you can catch around here that has an advantage against rock-types. You either have to force the advantage yourself by picking a starter that can measure up or you have to get really lucky.”

 

“Well, let’s just get to the PokeCenter first,” Misty mumbled, her formerly impressive ego vastly reduced by the information that had been offered.

 

“Yeah, and maybe we’ll walk around town while you come up with a strategy. We’ll still need to stock up on potions and food and stuff. There might be some interesting sights to see too.”

 

The group finally made it into town, catching sight of the PokeCenter’s great red roof even from their distance and making a Beedrill line for it. Misty withdrew Gastly back to his Pokeball with a word of gratitude, picked Eevee up into her arms, and approached the front desk where a young woman with a pink uniform and even brighter pink hair was waiting with a cheery grin to greet them.

 

“Welcome to our PokeCenter, here to heal your Pokemon’s every woe! I’m Nurse Joy and I’ll be registering your Pokemon in our database so they can be admitted for healing or check-ups.”

 

“Hey, wait, didn’t we meet her in…?”

 

“Oh, yeah, you don’t know, Misty, but every Center is run by a relative of the samy family. The same holds true for the police force,” Ash informed her.

 

“Relatives…?” the redhead replied with a brow quirked in suspicion. “You sure they aren’t clones?”

 

She had said such a thing offhandedly, meaning it as a joke, but when she next returned her gaze to the aforementioned woman, that originally sweet smile was suddenly looking a little strained.

 

“My aunts, nieces, sisters, and cousins are all just as human as I am, just as we all share the same passion for caring about Pokemon.”

 

Next moment, any residual malice had vanished - though Misty retained her apologetic expression for a few seconds longer - and Nurse Joy held out a tray with six empty Pokeball slots on it.

 

“Please deposit your Pokemon for me here and my assistant Chansey will escort them to their room after admission. Will your friends be leaving theirs as well?”

 

“Yeah, might as well,” Gary relented, and he and Ash both began to remove the round miniature devices from their belts while Joy placed two more trays on the counter and scanned Misty’s with an electronic reader, then typed a few things into her computer.

 

Before she could follow suit with Ash and Gary’s Pokemon, Misty took the opportunity to place Eevee on the counter as well.

 

“Um, she’s one of mine too. Do I…? I’m hoping I won’t have to force her into her Pokeball. I didn’t before.”

 

“Oh, my, a trainer who travels with their Pokemon outside of a Pokeball? And this Eevee doesn’t seem to be an infant either. But it’s absolutely no problem! We have plenty of patients who are more like companions and visit just like this.”

 

Nurse Joy accepted the fox-like Pokemon into her arms, giving her a comforting pat along her back, then turned and placed her on a timely delivered stretcher that Chansey had rolled up. She finished scanning and entering Ash and Gary’s Pokemon IDs into the computer, added their trays to the stretcher as well, and Chansey rolled everyone to the back area of the Center.

 

Afterwards, the three trainers reserved a room and left to take in the sights around town, including the PokeMart and a couple of specialty stores. When they’d finished with lunch, they headed back to the PokeCenter to retrieve their Pokemon, Gary taking the opportunity to check their funds and make a budget for their supply costs.

 

“So TMs are…?” Misty was asking him in the meantime as the whole lot of them waited for Chansey to grab their Pokeballs.

 

“Well, they’re short for ‘technical machine’ but, as for what they _do_ , they’re used to teach Pokemon moves they wouldn’t ordinarily learn through training and natural growth. There are some real powerful ones available.”

 

“Thanks,” Ash said in reference to the nearly always smiling Nurse Joy handing over their Pokemon. “Are we heading back out?” he asked this time to his friends.

 

“Ah, about that… I was wondering if it’s possible to go visit Pewter Gym?” Misty began, picking Eevee up into her arms with a kiss to her forehead before allowing the Pokemon to climb over her shoulder. “You know, like I used to do back in Cerulean City with you, Ash. I figure this is the only way I can prepare myself more for my own gym battle. Unless you wanna let me battle _you_. You never replied to me when I asked yesterday.”

 

“Well, it’s true that most gyms have open hours for spectators to come watch but we’ll have to go check and see what hours those are…” Gary replied to her, nudging Ash into prolonged silence before he could come up with a retort.

 

In fact, the raven-haired trainer was going to respond anyway to Misty’s commentary about him supposedly never answering to her challenge the night before but he was interrupted by yet another person as soon as they’d made it out the sliding double doors of the PokeCenter.

 

“Oho! My goodness, if it isn’t the late bloomer of Cerulean City!”

 

Misty’s expression immediately darkened as she stopped in her tracks, already apparently knowing who the voice belonged to without turning to see for herself.

 

“Oh, no.”

 

“I’m sorry, what was that?” asked the girl with long brown hair, a black high collar sleeveless dress, and white trainer gloves, leaning in close and smirking, prodding Misty in the cheek.

 

Ash _had_ to blink in wonder, curious as to how she’d moved in so quickly (and who she was for that matter).

 

“I said, _hi_ , Leaf, how’ve you been since you left Pallet Town?” the redhead rephrased, stiff plastic smile on her face as she made a half-hearted attempt to swat the other girl’s hand away.

 

“Oh, well, thanks so much for asking! Everything’s been going so perfectly! I’ve gotten six badges, I’ve made so much money and fame that it’s almost unnecessary for me to even compete in the league and become the Pokemon Master! But of course I still _will_ ,” the snarky preteen added in afterthought, “And lastly, of course, is that I’ve caught the perfect little team of Pokemon! They’re all so cute!

 

“But silly me! You shouldn’t let me talk about myself all day! So what about you, Misty dear? Still a late bloomer as always, I see! It looks like you’ve barely started out! So… when did you finally leave home, hmm? And when were you planning on introducing me to your handsome companions?”

 

It had felt like every sharp word spilled from this girl’s lips in a single cunning breath. Her passive-aggressive jabs and flaunting self-promotion were enough to make Misty’s blood boil. But then again, Leaf had always had a way of crawling under her skin, ever since they were youngsters in school together.

 

“Uh, anyway, Ash and Gary, this is Leaf. She’s my…” What? The only term Misty could think of to describe her was ‘bane of my existence’ but the redhead couldn’t help thinking she needed to say something more subtle. “... I’ve known her most of my life. Leaf, this is Ash,” she paused to point him out, “and this is Gary. They’re traveling with me.”

 

“Oh, that’s so sweet! You have yourself a couple of babysit - I mean, training coaches!” The slip-up did not go unnoticed. “You’re just so lucky! Most of us have to accept the burden of traveling independently, taking full responsibility for our own goals and struggles, but having others take up your slack sometimes works too, I suppose. In fact, it even suits someone like you!

 

“Anyway, boys, the pleasure is all yours, I’m sure. I hope you both are taking good care of Cerulean City’s _late bloomer_.”

 

Misty couldn’t help the slight twitch of her tightly hunched shoulders every time she was called that. And her subdued fury only doubled when she saw Ash mouth the words over to himself as he and Leaf shook hands, clearly confused but knowing better than to ask at the moment.

 

Leaf shook hands with an oddly tongue-tied Gary too and then swung back towards her old friend with a sly grin, taking in the sight of Eevee for the first time and bending down to greet her.

 

“Why, hello there, cutie! I didn’t notice you before! I apologize for that! How could I miss such a sweet baby?” the brunette cooed genuinely with sparkling eyes, reaching out to stroke Eevee’s fluffy mane and seeming the slightest bit perturbed when the Pokemon didn’t respond to her earnest enthusiasm in kind. Rather, the normal-type Pokemon curled herself around her trainer’s ankles as if trying to disappear from view.

 

“So where did you catch her? Eevee are really rare in the wild, you know. You usually have to breed one. I should know; I’ve been looking for one for myself for months now.”

 

“Actually Eevee and I are partners because of Gary. He’s Professor Oak’s grandson. He was able to talk the professor into letting me breed an Eevee from an egg two of theirs managed to make. See, Eevee wasn’t caught. She’s my first Pokemon. That’s why I had to wait so much longer than everyone else to start my journey.”

 

 _Because she and I were especially meant to be together! So there!_ she couldn’t help but add internally at the ever-so-slightly faltering smile on the other girl’s face. It sure felt good to come out on top!

 

Indeed, her rival seemed quite put out by the reveal of such details but shook off her envy within seconds and reached her full height once more.

 

“Well, Misty dear, that just gave me a marvelous idea! Why don’t we have a battle now that you’re finally a Pokemon trainer too? Just a little one-on-one practice. I know how hard it can be for you when you’re just starting out! You could probably use the experience _and_ money. How about we battle starter against starter? Since I’m sure you don’t have much of a team yet. And it seems like fate had us meet each other here today.”

 

“Actually, Misty has caught herself six Pokemon already!” Ash blurted out from the background, retreating and regrouping when his redheaded friend glared at him. “Though Eevee is definitely your strongest option at this point,” he clarified finally.

 

“You know what, Leaf?! You’re on! Let’s do this, right now!”

 

“Well, that’s great then, isn’t it? We even have an audience for our first ever official battle! Now, c’mon, there’s a practice field over there we can use…” And then, at the sight of Misty looking quite suddenly embarrassed, “... Or did you forget we’re standing right in front of the PokeCenter in the middle of a busy street?”

 

“I, uh, I - of course not! Let’s go, Eevee!” the redhead huffed aloud, turning up her nose and stomping in the direction of their aforementioned battleground, the rest of their group following after them.

 

“This is a one-on-one battle between Misty and Leaf, starter Pokemon only, no items allowed during the match. If these terms are agreeable to both trainers,” Gary paused here during his impromptu referee speech so that any complaints could be voiced if they existed before continuing, “then you may call out your Pokemon and begin!”

 

“I call Eevee!”

 

“Woo! Go, Misty!” Ash shouted from his place on the sidelines, pumping a fist into the air.

 

The redhead offered him a grateful smile for his camaraderie before turning a determined and scrutinizing gaze on her opponent, waiting to see what challenge she and Eevee would have to face.

 

Leaf had almost an entire year up on her experience-wise, and it wasn’t until this moment that the novice Pokemon trainer realized how remiss it was of her to not have paid attention to what Pokemon the other girl had chosen for the start of her own journey that fateful day all that time ago. And no matter which starter she’d picked, it had probably evolved by now, perhaps even more than once.

 

“Come on out, Squirtle!” the female trainer shouted, elegantly tossing a Pokeball forward, where it snapped open and unveiled an all-too-familiar beam of scarlet light which morphed into the outline of a small turtle-like Pokemon Misty had learned much about back when she wasn’t sure which Pokemon she should choose as her first.

 

Still, back to the present, she wasn’t quite sure if she was more relieved or disappointed by the sight of this particular opponent.

 

“I hope you don’t mind us making the first move while you’re busy thinking? Squirtle, tackle!”

 

The water-type Pokemon gave a firm nod before running bipedal in Eevee’s direction.

 

“Ah!” Misty gasped, collecting herself and responding by instinct, “Eevee, dodge it and use your sand attack!”

 

The fox-like Pokemon leapt out of the way and then u-turned as Squirtle careened past, digging his stubby feet into the ground to try and keep himself from going too far beyond his original goal. Unfortunately he wasn’t quick enough to avoid his adversary’s follow-up attack and was punished by an onslaught of dirt in his eyes, momentarily blinding him.

 

“Use your water gun to wash your eyes out!” Leaf commanded.

 

“I hope you don’t mind us continuing to battle while Squirtle is busy with that,” Misty commented smartly, barely able to conceal her condescending and prideful tone as she mimicked her rival’s statement from barely more than a minute ago.

 

Leaf’s facial features tightened into a restrained grimace, clearly catching on but choosing to refrain from commentary and instead redoubling her efforts in the rest of their battle.

 

“Eevee, tackle!”

 

“Counter with withdraw!”

Squirtle paused in the middle of washing out his eyes, curling all appendages within his shell just in time for Eevee to smash into him. The normal-type squealed in pain and recoiled but shook it off rather quickly otherwise.

 

“Try your tail whip and then use quick attack, Eevee!”

 

“Use rapid spin!”

 

The fox Pokemon wagged her tail in Squirtle’s direction just as he’d unfurled from his withdrawal but, while quick attack was an accelerated move, rapid spin was much faster. By the time Eevee had jumped from all fours to launch her weight at him, Squirtle was already curled up and swerving out of the way. But the relentless speed didn’t stop there as the water-type glided circles around his opponent before lunging at her, smacking her to the ground and flying a solid ten or so feet away before popping out of his shell again and landing gracefully on his hind legs.

 

“Ah! Eevee, you can get up, right? We can still…” No sooner had Misty spoken these words than her Pokemon stumbled to her paws, looking the worse for wear in every regard but not wanting to let her trainer down. “Yeah, we can still do this! We can still win if we just keep attacking! Use your bite!”

 

“Iron defense!”

 

Squirtle withdrew into his shell once more, with the added effect of it shimmering a glossy white, just in time for Eevee to clamp down with her fangs, which proved to be quite the mistake. She whimpered as she pulled back, mouth clearly sore after such a folly.

 

“Water pulse!”

 

“Dodge--”

 

But there was no time. A jet stream of high-powered water shot towards Eevee, making contact less than three seconds after the order was given. The already wounded Pokemon was thrust that much further towards the side of the field, hitting the ground hard and rolling limply a few times before coming to a stop, struggling to get back up even after such a beating.

 

But Leaf wasn’t finished quite yet, and she no longer seemed interested in playing her games either.

 

“Now finish it with your skull bash!”

 

“Wait, what?”

 

Misty’s head drew a blank at the confident utterance that was Leaf’s command. Skull bash was Squirtle’s signature move, one of the most powerful techniques he could learn. Compared to that, there was nothing in hers and Eevee’s arsenal that could compare. If this next attack made contact…

 

“Eevee, lower Squirtle’s strength with your growl! Or at least get out of there if you can!”

 

It was no use, everything was over so very soon. Squirtle had started dashing at her precious Pokemon but that trot had turned into a mad sprint, during which the water-type was moving so quickly that his feet, then his stubbly legs, and then his body as a whole were powerful white blurs of agility and power.

 

Eevee successfully growled but it seemed to have no effect on the incoming threat so she attempted to follow through with Misty’s secondary command... However there wasn’t enough time.

 

Squirtle’s hardened skull smashed into Eevee and sent the normal-type flying through the air before she hit the ground and wrenched round a few times in the dirt, coming to a stop in the left-hand corner of the field on her trainer’s side.

 

Speechless and distraught, the redhead couldn’t wait for Gary’s official call to the end of the battle and began cautiously stumbling towards her unconscious Pokemon, but her half-hearted gait gained traction with every step until she was full-on running, her breath stolen from her throat, eyes both somehow watering and burning dry at the same time, her skin cold and heart hammering with fear.

 

Pokemon fainted and lost battles every single day, she _knew_ that, but… not her Pokemon. Not her Eevee. Never before this moment.

 

“Misty--,” Ash began, on his feet in an instant and ready to support her in her time of need but he was interrupted by the somewhat restrained sound of Gary’s voice.

 

“Eevee is unable to battle, which makes the winners of the match Squirtle and Leaf!”

 

“Great job, Squirtle, come here!” Leaf called out, her Pokemon responding obediently with enthusiasm and waddling towards her. She fondly patted him on the head, kneeling down and granting him a soft kiss on the cheek before calling him back to his Pokeball and regaining her full height once more.

 

“Do you see now, Misty dear? Pokemon come in all sizes, types, and strengths. At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter that your Eevee was bred especially for you or that your friends gave up their time to help you on your journey. What matters to you most - or what _should_ matter - is the bond you share with your Pokemon and the time you’ve put in together.

 

“Squirtle and I have been together for almost a full year. We’ve won six badges together, earned a living and survived and _thrived_ together. We’ve built a team together too.

 

“Nothing can replace or replicate the bond I have with my Pokemon or the time we’ve spent working towards our goals. Even a novice like you who just started out will have to work at it if your dream is to truly become the greatest Pokemon Master ever.”

 

“Hey, Misty, you okay…?” Ash asked, kneeling down beside her as she sat in the grass, cradling her unconscious Pokemon in her arms. “You know, once we get Eevee back to the PokeCenter for awhile, she’ll be good as new in no time!”

 

Gary walked up to them both as Misty, still dispirited, managed a nod.

 

“ _But_ , then again, I’ll have already finished collecting badges and challenging the league long before you, which means that I’ll naturally become a Master class trainer first. And it seems pretty clear to me from the battle we just had that you’ll never be a match against me anyway, will you, Misty dear?” Leaf goaded more shallowly now, drawing a hand through her long brown hair and _hmph_ ing with a mild smirk adorning her face. “After all, once a late bloomer, always a late bloomer, am I ri--”

 

“--Hey!” Ash shouted, on his feet in an instant and staring her down from a considerable distance, quite fed up with her condescending attitude. “What makes you think you can talk to my friend like this?! Just ‘cause you’re a stronger trainer and just ‘cause--”

 

Gary laid a hand on his shoulder, averting his gaze slightly under Ash’s increased ire, though the raven-haired trainer was also effectively silenced by his friend’s maneuver.

 

“I don’t think that’s it.”

 

“Wha’d’ya mean?”

 

“I think… I’m just saying…” And Gary dropped his tone to such a lower murmur that Ash had to strain to hear what he was saying, meaning Misty probably couldn’t hear it at all (which was probably the point), “... that she needs to learn this lesson too.”

 

“Yeah, well, that doesn’t mean that _she_ ,” Ash paused long enough to jack his thumb in Leaf’s direction, “should be the one to teach it! But it’s fine! If she wants to talk about bonds made and time spent with Pokemon then I’ll gladly match her! After all, Bulbasaur and I have been together for years! And Weepinbell too! And--”

 

“--No, Ash!” a strained voice rang out from the ground, and the two young men faltered amid their discussion as Misty vigilantly rose to her feet, still holding Eevee just as closely and tenderly as ever. “I don’t need you to fight my battles for me. I don’t… I don’t really get what you guys were saying but I just wanna say one thing! Eevee and I are a great team! Whatever we may be missing now we’re gonna find and master! Do you hear me, Leaf? The next time you and I battle, we’re gonna be the ones who best you!”

 

Leaf threw her hands up in a casual shrug, her lips curling upward so faintly that none of the others could even see it.

 

“Whatever you say… little miss late bloomer,” she replied aloofly, turning on her heel and marching proudly away. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a date with an ancient Pokemon exhibit.”

 

“What was her problem?” Ash begged aloud as soon as she was gone. “Misty, are you okay? You shouldn’t listen to Leaf just ‘cause she beat you in a battle, okay? You and Eevee are plenty close _and_ plenty strong, right, Gary?”

 

There was an edgy pressure to his tone that not so subtly demanded Gary had better agree but the Viridian gym trainer was still staring after Leaf with awkwardly flushed cheeks and sharp eyes.

 

“Yeah… Ash is right, I guess…”

 

“You _guess_?!” the raven-haired trainer yelped, though his expression darkened as he looked his old friend over with pursed lips and furrowed brows, apparently catching on to something he’d missed earlier on. “Are you just saying that ‘cause you’re--”

 

“--I’m just saying that because, even though Leaf came on strong,” the burgundy-haired trainer countered, pointedly interrupting what he had a feeling was going to be a very embarrassing and very accurate accusation, “she made a good point… and a strong impression,” he added.

 

“C’mon, Ash, like I said before, Misty was going to have to face this moment sooner or later. You gotta remember that we’re here to help her when it’s needed and give her advice here and there but… there are just some things it can’t be our responsibility to teach her.

 

“I mean, isn’t that why you blew off her requests for a Pokemon battle? Because you were worried you’d accidentally end up playing the role Leaf did?”

 

“... You’re too smart for your own good, ya know that?” Ash begrudgingly admitted, blushing.

 

“Guys…” Misty’s voice rang out from behind them, and both boys jumped nearly a foot in the air, having basically forgotten during their heated discussion that she was present to hear their every word. “Guys, it’s okay. And thank you. I… don’t really know what happened or like _how_ it happened but I’ll get stronger from this and we’ll win the next battle against Leaf, just like I told her.”

 

Perhaps Ash was imagining it but he couldn’t help thinking that the expression on the redhead’s face was more affectionate than it should have been as she stared wistfully in the direction Leaf had vanished in, considering what had transpired between them during their match. Huh. Maybe there was more to the girls’ relationship than he could comprehend at present.

 

“Anyway, can we get Eevee back to the PokeCenter now?”

 

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Gary responded with a rare warm grin, perhaps feeling that one of his sarcastic or blunt quips would be better saved for another time.

 

A couple of hours later, after Eevee had received both a good nap and some decent first aid from the talented and dedicated Nurse Joy and her assistant Chansey, the group of three trainers left to pay a visit to the Pewter City Gym and see about its open hours, which they’d unfortunately missed for the day, so they went out to grab dinner instead.

 

Misty, who’d been sitting on the question since that afternoon, finally got around to asking Ash and Gary about the odd event that Leaf had mentioned in passing earlier.

 

“Ancient Pokemon exhibit, hmm…?” Ash replied first, staring into the distance as if deep in thought for a few seconds before deadpanning, “I’ve got no clue. Oh well!”

 

“I think she was talking about Pewter’s Museum of Science and Natural History. They have a department dedicated to the excavation and research of ancient Pokemon species. Rumor is they’ve even been involved in potential resurrection or cloning with the use of DNA,” Gary rattled off informatively.

 

“Wow… I don’t really understand it but that sounds pretty amazing! Can we go check it out?”

 

Misty smiled down at her perfectly healed Eevee, suppressing the guilt that bubbled up in the back of her mind at the sight of the Pokemon. It still stung some to think back to their battle earlier with Leaf, still bothered the redhead some to remember the harsh lesson she’d learned. The first thing she’d done for her Pokemon after Eevee had woken up was apologize profusely for letting her down, but of course Eevee had just licked her hand and nudged affectionately against her fact, not quite understanding but wanting to make her trainer feel better.

 

Misty and friends made their way up the few blocks to one of the bus stops on Main Street, which would take them the rest of the way northeast where the museum was apparently located.

 

After the ten minute commute, their group found themselves standing in front of a massive four story complex, facing a magnificent courtyard and stately architecture built out of the same slate gray stone that seemed to be the main source material used in most of Pewter City’s historical builds.

 

“C’mon guys!” Misty called out, perfectly carefree if the way she was skipping excitedly towards the main entrance was any indication.

 

Just as she’d opened one of the double doors, she and the others heard a distraught and irate shout from inside the building.

 

“Wait! Thief! Stop them please!”

 

A tall figure in black sprinted through the door Misty was holding, so strong and reckless that they inadvertently collided into her and caused her to tumble to the ground.

 

“Hey, what’s the…” she began angrily in response to this transgression but faltered at the sinister expression and demeanor of the man before her as he glared icily before remembering he needed to be on his way.

 

As soon as he was gone, many things happened in succession. Ash was checking to make sure she was okay while Gary was staring suspiciously after the man in black, followed immediately by the front door bursting open again and a whole slew of people appearing all at once, including a few in blue security uniforms, a fair number of curious bystanders, and two people sporting white lab coats.

 

“Oh - oh no, are you alright, honey?” the first one, female with a rather meek and neurotic personality, simpered, giving Misty a once over, bouncing on the balls of her feet and pacing to and fro in clear distress. “Oh no, oh my, but there’s no time, we have to hurry! Oh, I can’t _believe_ this happened! How could it - how will we ever find--”

 

“--Penelope, calm down please,” her coworker attempted to cajole her authoritatively, having just apparently finished a phone call because he was placing his cell in his pocket. “I just contacted the police and Sergeant Jenny will be here soon. There’s nothing else we can do for now without potentially risking our safety. You three,” he motioned towards the group of trainers, “I’m sorry to approach you like this but we’re in the middle of an emergency situation. We’ve just had a very valuable fossil stolen from one of our exhibits by someone wearing a black jumpsuit. Did you happen to notice anything we might be able to report to the police when they arrive?”

 

“No, how could we when--?”

 

But Ash was cut off before he could say anymore.

 

“The guy looked middle-aged, had black hair but there were gray streaks on the sides, gray eyes. He looked at least six feet tall. He exited through the gate and took a left. It seemed like he was trying to u-turn around the museum campus and escape into the northern woods,” Gary recited and, after catching sight of Misty and Ash’s bemused expressions, he added, “I was watching him go just in case it might help.”

 

“Thanks, son, that was very smart of you. You three!” And the male scientist turned to face the security officers. “Go around back, fan out with your Pokemon and chase the thief down. Don’t do anything to risk damage to that fossil. If you can safely stall until Sergeant Jenny and her officers show up then do so, otherwise send someone back here so they can lead the police in the right direction when they arrive.”

 

The trio of security personnel nodded in affirmation of this instruction and ran off instantly afterwards. Misty finally got back to her feet and watched them go, feeling mysteriously equal parts excited and frustrated over how she’d let the criminal get away. Still, to think someone had been able to steal an artifact from a well-guarded museum in (mostly) broad daylight…

 

The thought had barely even crossed her mind when a more familiar figure, smaller in stature with long brown hair and wearing a black turtle-collared skater dress, dashed by them all in a blur of tricolor, out the gate and circling the campus in an instant, following the security guards.

 

“Wait, was that…?” Ash started tapering off towards the end of his perturbed comment.

 

“I think… it _was_ …” Gary replied, his tone somewhat more admirable. “Wait, Misty!”

 

For the redheaded novice trainer had already taken off as fast as her legs would allow, Eevee ever loyal at her side. The two boys had no choice but to pursue their reckless friend, ignoring the shouts from the administrative scientist and his more panicked assistant.

 

“Grr… those kids better not cause any damage to this operation!”

 

“I just pray everyone will be alright. With Team Rocket behind this, we can’t… always be sure, can we…?” Penelope responded cryptically in a somber tone, immediately sobering her superior up, his expression softening into shame and concern.

 

“Yes, you’re quite right.”

 

OoOoO

 

 **Notes** \- And thus ends this chapter with a somewhat unintended cliffhanger. Miya wasn’t able to guess what went down in the next chapter so I wonder if anyone else will be able to? Lol. It’s not that special to be honest. Also coming in the next chapter is Misty’s first gym battle! And, oh… is Ash jealous…?

 

Next chapter will be posted around the end of March.

 

Likes, comments, reviews, whatever is available from the reader’s end is really invaluable to a writer’s interest in continuation.


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